Friday, September 07, 2012

I have a solid travel plan: take the 8:20 express train at the Hua Lamphong train station and in Ayutthaya, negotiate a tuktuk rental for not more than 500 Bahts.The camera batteries have been charged, tote bag filled with the basics (bottled water, towel, passport photocopy, map), balyudong attire washed and hanged, and 3k Baht in small bills in my wallet.The next day, I woke up to what I thought was early morning darkness, and lingered in bed.Until almost 8 am when I realized that it's the pouring rain outside that made things blacker than usual.But still, I pulled out from the comfort of my queen-sized bed, had a quick shower, grabbed a quick yucky breakfast, and made my way to the train station.I missed the express so I paid the fare for the regular.

And waited.As the rain poured harder.As would be Ayutthaya tourists like me started shaking their heads.So I started shooting train station frames...

...around Hua Lamphong, to Sala Daeng, to the National Stadium, and finally Mahboonkrong.
There I killed the day window shopping, and sometimes buying.

Then back to Sala Daeng where I explored the crowded streets of Silom.

I fell to bed as soon as I reached Room 2011 of the Aetas Lumpini Hotel......camera, tote bag, shoes, and all...

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

That means I have to scrounge for dinner along the motley collection of Thai fastfood stalls near the hotel, or survive on 7-11 nuked food packs, or close my eyes and endure the stiff price at Vincent's.

(This was before discovering that Silom and its heavenly array of affordable street food is just a 15 Baht subway ride away).

It doesn't help that my hotel breakfast fare is nearing the puking level and the cafeteria menu at the UNESCAP is evolving into a "must-not-eat-today" gastronomic meltdown.

So norlygrace's invitation for us to have dinner in Silom, after the UN and Thai police cut short the Oxfam-Greenpeace media stunt, was indeed a welcome respite from an increasing crescendo of culinary torture.

The Thai sausage reminded me of Vigan and Lucban (first photo below), the spicy pork salad a million times better than UNESCAP's (second photo below), the papaya salad with salted eggs just fine, and the perfectly grilled dalag (third photo below) tugged at the memory of a dinner somewhere in Bangkok in honor of my friend/mentor/kumpare Oyet P. who could not make it to the christening of my youngest son.

The next day, we were greeted with the anticipated news that there will no longer be any contact groups, almost no coordination, and unbelievably almost no work.

"Sama ka na lang sa amin," said Usec Fred who was invited to visit the Philippine Embassy along Sukhumvit by the Agriculture Attache.

And since it was high noon, we were brought to an almost-fine-dining lunch first.

The tomato salad with chunks of mozzarella was a welcome change (first photo below); I thought my lamb shank tasted too strong of the lamb it was and regrettably envied Ate Alice's grilled tuna steak (second photo below) before the freshly baked pizza soothed my disappointment; and the iciness of the vanilla ice cream crumble dessert stabbed at my ailing upper left molar.